JONESBORO, Ark. ? In a game that went to the wire Arkansas State was able to hang on to a slim lead and down the ULM men's basketball team, 65-62, in the Convocation Center in Jonesboro, Ark., on Thursday evening.
Despite an even rebounding mark, Arkansas State (12-5, 4-2 Sun Belt) was able to control the paint, outscoring the Warhawks 38-10 and limiting ULM's starting frontcourt to a combined 5-for-25 performance. Eric McKinney finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds while Shawn Morgan came off the bench for 19 points and nine boards.
Junior Malcolm Thomas finished with game-high honors in points, scoring 20 points for ULM (5-12, 1-5 Sun Belt) off 8-of-12 shooting. Junior Dynile Forbes added 13 points off the bench and sophomore Lawrence Gilbert scored 10. Sophomore Rudy Turner finished with a team-high 14 rebounds.
In a back-and-forth opening period neither team could gain much of an advantage on the scoreboard. ULM slowly pulled away and built a six-point advantage at 23-17 with 6:53 remaining in the first half.
Arkansas State would respond with a 9-0 run over the next five minutes to build a three-point advantage, its largest of the opening period, with under a minute remaining. The opening period featured seven ties and six lead changes.
A pair of free throws by sophomore Lawrence Gilbert with 36 seconds remaining in the opening period knotted the score at 26-26, a ledger the two teams would take into the intermission.
ULM came out swinging in the second half and, on a barrage of treys took a six-point lead at 43-37 with 13:21 remaining. The Red Wolves would answer and rattled off a 10-3 run to retake the advantage.
After Thomas knotted the score one last time on a jumper with 7:50 remaining, Arkansas State went back into the paint to take the final lead. The Warhawks would draw to within one possession several times down the stretch, but couldn't finish the comeback
Lost in the final score, junior Jarvis Hill put together a strong defensive performance against ASU leading scorer Donald Boone. Averaging over 20 points per contest in league play, Boone was held to six points on Thursday with Hill checking him for only two made field goals.
ULM returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Troy in a televised game at Fant-Ewing Coliseum at 3 p.m.
